Review: Transformers Generations Thunderwing

By Loran

Once again, Hasbro dives into the classic Marvel Comics villains for their new toylines. This time, it’s Thunderwing, the insane Matrix-obsessed Decepticon that once came close to taking out Unicron. Like most classic villains, his original figure demands absurd prices on the aftermarket. This is mostly because, well, his original figure was kind of ugly, and most kids just passed him up on the shelves. The same holds true for Bludgeon. For the longest time, getting characters like Bludgeon and Thunderwing could only be done by dropping ridiculous sums on eBay for the original figures (probably with missing parts, to boot), but now, Hasbro gave us a chance to get all-new figures of these tyrants of yesteryear. So how well does the new Generations Thunderwing fare? Let’s take a look.

Thunderwing’s alt-mode is some sort of Cybertronian jet, unsurprisingly enough. It comes across looking FAR more coherent than the original G1 toy. Underneath his cockpit is a little drone plane, reminiscent of the original toy’s inner robot. It doesn’t actually DO anything, unfortunately; it seems to just be there for fanservice. Underneath his wings are a couple of gigantic missile launchers.

This mode is sadly where the problems start to show up. For one, his cockpit looks HUGE. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems out-of-scale with the rest of his body. Also, he suffers from a problem the Classics Jetfire mold also has-exposed arms with nowhere to go. Seriously, that’s the most offensive kind of “airplane undercarriage”. In-package, his head is exposed under the plane, but that’s just a packaging error-you can easily flip up his chest to cover it.

Thunderwing’s transformation is nothing all that difficult-nowhere near as evil as Straxus. I find myself really liking where his legs go in vehicle mode, clipping right into the back of the plane. It’s really cool, and not something I always think of when transforming him.

…however, the robot mode is where his problems seem to continue, but I’ll get the good out of the way first.

His color scheme is magnificent-an almost dead-ringer for this Marvel Comics appearance. Of course it’s all based on his Pretender shell, why wouldn’t it be? I think he took it off like, once in the comics. Just goes to show what part was more memorable. His head is awesome, mounted on a cool “slanted” swivel joint. I do wish his visage was meaner, however, perhaps with a row of spiky teeth, but I’ll take it. His missile launchers are nifty, albeit unwieldy, and combine into a big double gun of uber killage.

Like his vehicle mode, his robot mode suffers from quite a bit of problems. He lacks a waist joint, which is always a bummer, and not only that, it seems like his waist is set too high-up, or that his torso is too stout. He uses the same ball joint plus cut joint system that most other modern figures have, but it’s much less effective here because of how small his thighs are. I’m afraid I’ll pop the joint off every time I try to pose him. The giant guns/spikes on his shoulders are also a hindrance, making it hard for him to hold a Matrix prop over his head.

However, all of these could be ignored were it not for one nagging problem…

HE’S TOO DAMN SHORT.

Okay, I know, Generations is a Deluxe-only line, and I was able to deal with Straxus being a deluxe, but this… this is almost offensive. Even by DELUXE standards he’s short! Straxus at least had the girth to balance it out. Hasbro should have done what they did with Bludgeon, and make him a Movie/Classics Hybrid at the Voyager class. It would’ve been much more dignified!

In the end, Thunderwing was a HUGE disappointment for me. But honestly? I was going to buy him regardless, and so are a lot of people. Why? Well, he was a huge player in the Marvel comic and has his place in Decepticon history. Good figure or not, this guy needs to stay with all your other Decepticon tyrants. If you loved the comics, then by all means, stop by us and grab one yourself.

Oh, and until I get the Battle in Space two-pack, he’s going to be carrying the Matrix from my Beast Wars Neo Big Convoy. Gotta love those 5mm pegs!